West Singhbhum deputy development commissioner Aditya Ranjan has designed a Cov-bot, or a Covid robot, to minimise contact between Covid-19 patients and healthcare staff looking after them.

DDC Ranjan, a BIT Mesra computer scientist-turned Indian Administrative Service officer, had earlier designed a cheap face shield for health workers, and a “phone booth” centre to collect samples for testing for the novel coronavirus.

He said the Cov-bot would be launched on Tuesday at Chaibasa Sadar Hospital and at the district’s dedicated Covid-19 hospital, South Eastern Railway Hospital in Chakradharpur.

“The remote controlled Cov-bot would provide medicine and food to the suspected/confirmed Covid-19 patients at the isolation ward of the hospital,” Ranjan explained.

“We have developed it using indigenous means and it is the first of its kind in the country. This apart we have tried to make a hi-tech individual isolation bed which would be a room in itself and would prevent infection from patient to patient.”

The state health department, meanwhile, wants the maximum number of people to download the Arogya Setu app launched earlier this month by the Union government.

Department sources said letters were sent to all the 24 deputy commissioners (DCs) on Sunday to organise mass awareness sessions to encourage people to download the app.

Principal health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni said: “We would like all the deputy commissioners to be proactive in ensuring maximum downloading of the Arogya Setu app. This would help not only in surveillance of those under quarantine but also give vital information on Covid-19 symptoms and other helplines to people.”

The app, the government claims, will tell a person whether you are a coronavirus suspect or not based on health, geographical and travel information.

It will also tell, the government claims, how much danger one is facing and what steps need to be taken. The app can be downloaded on both iOS and Android devices.

The smartphone’s Bluetooth and GPS must be kept on.

“One can know if he/she is in danger of getting infected or not based on the colour codes,” said a health department official.

“Green means one is safe with advice of maintaining social distancing. Yellow means one is at risk and should immediately contact the helpline numbers given in the app. The GPS checks the location and finds out if the user is near an infected area as per government databases. Bluetooth helps in determining whether one has been within 6-foot distance of an infected person.

“Go to options in the self assessment test and click where a chat window will be opened and one would be asked some health related questions. After answering the one can know if he/she is infected with Covid-19 or not. The app is available in English and 11 other Indian languages,” said the official.